Eighteen suspects who participated in last month’s deadly terrorist attack that killed nearly 100 people in the restive Xinjiang province bordering Pakistan have surrendered to the police following a campaign asking the public to give tip-offs about those involved.
The suspects have surrendered under tense pressure from the public, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the regional Government’s publicity department as saying.
A total of 18 suspects of a fatal terror attack in Shache County have surrendered to police, the local Government announced on Sunday. However, Munich-based Uighur rights advocacy group rejected Government claims about surrender under public pressure and said the 18 had surrendered fearing for their lives.
Amid a manhunt for the suspects, armed forces encircled a corn field where the 18 Uighur farmers, the youngest of whom was 15, had retreated and were shooting in the air, said Dilxat Raxit of the World Uyghur Congress. Raxit further claimed that authorities took their family members to the field to persuade them to give up, “telling them the Govt can ensure their safety after they surrender.”
Masked militants armed with knives attacked Govt offices on July 28 and killed 37 civilians and left 13 others injured. Police officers on the scene shot dead 59 terrorists and arrested 215 others. In the incident, thirty one vehicles were vandalised, of which six were set on fire.